When Worlds Collide Ch. 03

"Come sit next to me, Lacey," Rafe said quietly, leading her to the right side of Jared. He put his plate down in the setting next to his friend and pulled the chair out next to him for her to sit down.

She tried not to blush at his action or the way Millie smiled fondly as she sat down across from Rafe. Jen took the seat beside Lacey.

"We usually eat with the others but as it was your first night here Jared thought you'd feel more comfortable with something less communal. Plus we have guests coming for breakfast." Rafe smiled. "Which is good for us, because we get to eat Millie's excellent eggs."

"Outrageous flatterer," Millie laughed shaking her head.

"Yes, ma'am," he quipped with a roguish smile. "It's the only way to get you to cook for us."

Lacey smiled as they bantered, feeling almost part of their little family unit. It was just so nice to be able to sit and relax without constantly having to look over her shoulder. "So, who's coming for breakfast?" she asked curiously.

"My sister Rhianna and her partner Caleb," Rafe answered. "You'll love Annie, Lacey, and she's going to love you. Caleb can be a bit unapproachable sometimes but don't take it to heart. He's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

Lacey smiled at the warmth in Rafe's voice and the expression on his face. He obviously cared greatly about his sister. His handsome features softened completely as he talked of her. Any further conversation was cut off by the sound of the front door opening.

Rafe was up and out of his chair so quickly Lacey started. She turned her head towards the door as he bore down on the tiny little redhead who was just entering the dining room and swept her up into his arms.

"Rafe," Rhianna laughed in delight wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a big kiss. "I didn't know you were home."

"Got in late last night. Didn't think Caleb would be too impressed if I woke you at three in the morning to tell you I was home," Rafe answered with a laugh.

"I wouldn't have been," Caleb drawled smoothly, entering the dining room and running a quick eye over the people assembled there. He nodded to Jared and Millie as he waited patiently beside his woman.

Lacey examined the new couple curiously. Rhianna looked so tiny compared to Rafe. Apart from a slight similarity of features they seemed mismatched as siblings. Caleb was a huge man too. He was stunning to look at with his long golden brown hair and matching eyes but there was something slightly off about him and Rafe's sister which she couldn't put her finger on. Caleb reminded her of Richard slightly and it sent a little shiver down her spine.

Caleb seemed to get tired of waiting for his woman to be put down by her brother and wandered over to pour two cups of coffee. Rafe finally set Rhianna down and tugged her over to Lacey.

"Annie, this is Lacey and her friend Jen," Rafe smiled. "This is Annie and that's Caleb over there."

Rhianna stared at Rafe intently for a moment and then smiled turning to face the two women. "Lovely to meet you both," she said softly giving them a warm smile, her lavender eyes appraising Lacey intently.

Rafe sat back down beside Lacey as Rhianna walked around the table giving Jared a quick peck on the cheek and a big hug to Millie. The two women chatted quietly as Rhianna slid into the seat beside her as Caleb placed a coffee before her and sat down at her side with his own.

His eyes ran over the two women beside Rafe again before he turned to Jared. "I take it this isn't a social invitation?" he asked taking a sip of his coffee.

Jared frowned slightly. "I was just about to explain things to Lacey and Jen," he said quietly. "I didn't want to start until I knew just how much I could comfortably tell them."

Caleb could see Rafe's almost pathological fixation on Lacey so he was sure the big man had found his mate in the human woman. Her friend was another matter. She appeared to be suspicious and distrustful of the group. It didn't appear as if she had any kind of attachment to the Weres, which meant whatever was going on was pretty serious, if Jared was willing to risk exposing their existence to her.

It wasn't that simple for him though. The Council would come for the girl if she didn't have any protection. He sighed and turned to look at the woman until she looked back at him. He caught her eyes with his and probed gently. After a moment he released her and turned back to Jared. "You can tell them everything," he answered. "I can minimise the threat if it's required."

The whole room was silent watching the two men intently as they talked. Lacey had a feeling they were talking in some kind of coded way. They were being so careful with what they said and the way Caleb had looked at Jen had been pretty intense.

Jared kept his gaze fixed on Caleb's a moment longer and then nodded and turned to face the two women. "I know you have questions about the compound and about our group here," he began slowly. "I'm sorry we haven't been able to tell you everything sooner but I had to check with Caleb to make sure it would be okay to do so."

"So is this some kind of hippy commune?" Jen asked bluntly and Lacey groaned under her breath. It was just like her friend to come right out and ask.

"Not exactly," Millie answered carefully. "It's a bit more complicated than that."

"Seems everything is kind of complicated around here," Jen piped up a little acidly. All heads turned to her and she shrugged. "What? I'm only telling it how I see it. I don't mean to be rude or anything but you people are weird as hell even if you are being nice to us. This not knowing is hard to wrap my head around."

"Jen," Lacey groaned flushing in embarrassment. She understood where she was coming from but to just come right out and say it so bluntly.

"It's okay, Lacey, we're not offended," Jared said patiently with a little smile. "Believe me, Jen, when I say that keeping you in the dark was for your own protection as well as ours. What we're about to tell you could ultimately have led to your deaths if we'd been premature in discussing it with you."

Jen gave a startled gasp and even Lacey shivered slightly at his words.

"This compound is a haven for our pack," Jared continued in a matter of fact tone. "We're not hippies, Jen. We are Weres of the wolf variety. What you would call werewolves."

Jen stared at Jared with a stunned expression on her face. The man had just said he was a werewolf and he'd kept a completely straight face as he'd done so. Her first thought was he was completely insane. Any person who thought they could transform into an animal from a horror movie must certainly be insane, right? A quick look around the room showed everyone was sitting there with intent expressions on their faces, as if waiting for their reaction. They all looked totally serious.

She turned to Lacey and saw that her friend was looking around the room at everyone except the man at her side. Lacey's expression was confused rather than disbelieving which Jen was sure her expression must be conveying at this moment. Did Lacey believe them?

Jen swallowed hard and turned to look at Jared again. "You just expect us to believe this?" she finally asked. "You do know how insane you sound announcing you're a werewolf?"

Jared smiled slightly and nodded his head. "I know it sounds unbelievable, Jen, but it's the truth," he answered quietly. "I know both you and Lacey sensed something strange about the compound, about us as a group."

"Yeah, well you know I was going down the hippy route," she answered with a little snort of disbelief. "Or some weird nature loving freaks. Werewolves was most definitely not a contender for what you people were doing out here."

Millie laughed softly. She was impressed with how well Jen was taking the announcement. Lacey had yet to say anything and still appeared to be stunned but her friend was trying to take it in, trying to accept it. "Would you like one of us to shift to prove it to you?" she asked quietly. "I would be happy to let you see my wolf. You won't be in any danger, I promise you."

Jen's eyes swung to the woman across the table. If she said yes and the woman didn't change then she would know for sure these people were nuts, but a little voice inside her head asked what she would do if Millie did change into a wolf?

"That's why Aaron was so confident last night," Lacey suddenly said turning her head to finally look at Rafe. She had been letting Jen do all the talking while she tried to assimilate what was being said. She was conscious of how tense Rafe was beside her and how his eyes were firmly fixed on her the whole time. "It was because he was a wolf and he knew he was stronger and faster than the two men in the SUV."

Rafe nodded slowly, his brown eyes intent on Lacey's stunned face. "He didn't count on the bullets going through the human man in front of him, when his associate shot at him," he explained quietly. "We heal faster than humans usually but one of the bullets nicked his lung and he lost a lot of blood before we could get him back here."

Lacey bit her lip as she felt little things start to slide into place. "That's why you brought him here and not to a hospital," she said slowly. "And last night, you told off the animal in the trees. That was one of your people." It wasn't a question, more an observation.

Rafe nodded again. "We are wolves, Lacey," he answered. "I know it sounds crazy at first but it is true. We don't want to hurt you or Jen. We want to protect you both. I know you're concerned that we'll be hurt if we do so. Now you know our true nature maybe that will take some of the fear away?"

Lacey didn't answer him; instead she turned to look at her friend. She felt a bubble of hope deep inside. If what Rafe and his friends said was true then they did have the ability to protect them from Richard.

"Do you believe them, Lace?" Jen asked her quietly as their eyes met.

Lacey nodded to her friend. She noticed Rafe's sister smiling at her from the corner of her eye. She turned to the other woman and frowned slightly. Rhianna and Caleb didn't give off the same vibe as the others in the room. They looked more 'civilised'. Jared, Millie and Rafe gave off the appearance of something a little on the wild side, slightly untamed. "Are you a wolf too, Annie?" she asked and Rhianna laughed lightly.

"Lord, no," she sighed. "Everyone else is a wolf apart from Caleb and myself. We're vampires."

Jen thought she was handling this all remarkably well up until the little red haired woman announced she was a vampire. She couldn't stop the snort of disbelief which came out. "So when do the fairies arrive?" she asked sarcastically.

Rhianna smiled sweetly at her, her eyes flashing with amusement. "Haven't met any myself," she admitted and then bared her teeth and elongated her fangs. "Does that help you believe a little better, Jen?"

Lacey unconsciously shifted slightly closer to Jen and reached for her friend's hand as they both stared at Rhianna's fangs. There really wasn't any arguing with those wickedly sharp teeth. Her gaze swept to Caleb who was watching them closely and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"You'll have to forgive Annie but she's still a youngling and likes to show off," he said dryly. "The more mature vampire doesn't need to resort to little parlour tricks to get their point across."

Rhianna shot him a dark look and retracted her fangs. "It was the quickest way to get the point across," she said slightly snippy. "We all can't be as old and fossilised as you are, my love."

Caleb rolled his eyes and hugged his woman tightly as she continued to pout at his mild rebuke for a moment longer and then she smiled at the two human women. "So, now you know everything," she said. "Weres and vampires do exist. I must say you're both handling all this remarkably well too."

Jen turned to look at Lacey. They were in the middle of a whacked out horror movie scenario and her friend was sitting quite calmly through it all. The people in the room with them were not human, not like her and Lacey. It was hard to digest that. How did someone react when they found out that their whole world view was not actually the way they thought it was? The only thing that was stopping her dragging Lacey out of the compound was the fact these people didn't appear to want to hurt them in any way.

"So, Lacey, what do you want to do?" she finally asked, pleased that her voice came out strong and decisive. "Do you want to stay here with wolves and vampires?"

Lacey's thoughts were in turmoil. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact Rafe was a wolf. And his sister was a vampire? How did that come about? She was sure there was a story there. Vampires and werewolves? Richard wouldn't stand a chance against something as outrageous as that.

She felt safer around Rafe even knowing that he was a wolf. She couldn't even begin to imagine just how that was going to impact on her. From the moment he'd laid eyes on her he had set his sights on her. She remembered watching a documentary on wolves once. Didn't they mate for life? She couldn't even think about any of that right now, not when there was a more pressing matter. She squeezed Jen's hand lightly and gave her a slight smile.

"I want to stay," she said quietly.

Jen let out a long sigh and nodded slowly. If Lacey wanted to stay then she would stay with her. She couldn't really go home anyway but that was a moot point. She wouldn't leave her friend to face this alone. She already felt guilty enough about moving away and not being there for Lacey when Graves had sunk his claws into her. If it meant she had to put up with vampires and werewolves, then she would just have to get her head around the weirdness.

"Okay," Jared said drawing their attention back to him. "I hope you believe we have no intention of hurting you. Our goal is to protect you to the best of our abilities, which, as you now know, is considerable. The reason I needed to speak to Caleb is because I'm not so sure just what we're dealing with and I think he may."

He had a sneaking suspicion about Richard Graves and he needed the vampire to confirm it. He watched Caleb tense at his words as if he just knew he wasn't going to like what was coming next.

"I needed to pick your brains, Caleb" Jared said. "What do you know about Richard Graves?"

Caleb froze on the spot, his golden brown eyes turning hard as he regarded Jared intently for a long moment. He slowly put down his coffee mug and turned to Rhianna. "Come on, we're leaving," he said abruptly standing up.

Rhianna looked up at him in surprise. "We only just got here, Caleb," she answered quietly.

"If I'd known why Jared invited us we wouldn't have come in the first place, Annie," he said through clenched teeth. "I mean it, we're leaving now."

Rhianna frowned, her beautiful face taking on a mutinous expression. "Who's Richard Graves?"

"Someone I don't want within a hundred miles of you, Annie," Caleb said sharply. "If this lot are on his radar then we're out of here. Don't even think about arguing with me about it. Just get your beautiful little ass out of that chair right now before I carry you bodily out of here."

She blinked up at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. She could see the concern in his eyes even as he glared angrily at her. Graves had to be a vampire and a pretty powerful one at that to get Caleb so wound up. It took an awful lot to rattle him.

"Sorry, Caleb, I can't do that," she said regretfully. "If Graves is a danger to my family then I can't just get up and walk away. And you'd better not try and make me either or there will be hell to pay."

Caleb shot her a frustrated look, his automatic need to protect her warring with his own fondness for the people in the room. He knew Rhianna wouldn't agree to walk away but he also knew Graves well. Depending on what exactly was going down between Graves and the Weres there was a very good chance there was going to be a war.

"Why do you always have to fight me, Rhianna?" he ground out in frustration. "Why can't you just let me keep you safe for once without a bloody big issue being created out of it?"

Caleb's tortured words rang round the room and Rhianna felt fear course through her. She dragged her eyes from his and turned to look at her brother first and then her friends. Their faces were grim as they all looked at Caleb. The two human women looked pretty scared too.

"Because you always react first and think later, love," she answered carefully. "Doing the right thing isn't necessarily the safest thing, Caleb. If Graves wants to hurt Rafe then he's automatically my problem too. You know that."

"I know it, but it's not going to stop me getting you the hell out of here, Annie," he said through clenched teeth. "You either come willingly or I'm going to make you and you can scream at me all you bloody well like." His tone was cold and hard, matching the expression on his face and Rhianna felt her fear escalate.

"Graves is a vampire," she said quietly into the tension filled room.

"He's not just a vampire, Annie, he's a very powerful one," Caleb answered slowly his gaze riveted to her. "He's also a sadistic bastard who has no conscience whatsoever and will stop at nothing to get what he considers his."

Rafe growled loudly and shifted closer to Lacey who unconsciously leaned into him too. "You know him?" he asked furiously. "Do you have any idea what he's done to Lacey, Caleb? He beat her almost to death! Put her in the fucking hospital."

Caleb stared at Rafe with hard eyes as the final pieces slotted into place. Graves was coming for Lacey and Rafe was going to stand in his way. From the looks of things the entire Hanlon pack were going to do so too.

"He won't give a fuck about Were mating instincts, Rafe," Caleb ground out harshly. "As far as he's concerned Weres are just as inferior as humans are. He will rip right through this entire pack and kill everyone standing until he gets to Lacey. It will take him the sum total of five seconds to discover my affiliation to this pack. Two seconds after that he'll be coming for Annie because he knows she's my weakness. He'll use her to neutralise me and once he has what he wants he'll kill her." He was pulling Rhianna up as he spoke, wrapping his arms tightly around his precious woman.

The silence in the room was practically deafening. "Is there nothing you can do to aid us, Caleb?" Jared finally asked, his handsome face marred with a deep frown.

Caleb looked down at Rhianna and met her pleading eyes. He wanted to help them, he really did, but he had to put his woman first. If anything happened to her he would be lost. He opened his mouth to answer the Alpha as two large tears escaped Rhianna's eyes and slowly rolled down her cheeks. He stared into her eyes a moment longer and then groaned loudly, pulling her mouth to his as he kissed her desperately.

If he didn't help she would hate him. If he did help he could lose her. His mind whirled madly as he lost himself in her sweet lips and tried to calm his raging thoughts. His kiss gentled, then he slowly pulled his mouth from hers and wiped at her wet cheeks. "You have to do exactly what I say when I say it," he groaned in defeat. "I can't lose you, Annie."

She nodded quickly at him. "I promise, Caleb," she whispered tremulously.

He sighed deeply and sat back down pulling Rhianna onto his lap and cradling her closely. "Graves is a bit of an anomaly among my kind," he said tersely. "He has his own followers but he uses a lot of humans in his everyday workings. He's ancient like I am and has considerable mental abilities but he doesn't really use them. He prefers to break people with his cruelty instead. It's more of a challenge to him which is probably why Lacey was able to get away from him. If he'd used his mental abilities on her she'd still be with him."